the occasion of the great Alfred Hitchcock retrospective , My Cinematograph met Jean-François Rauger, program director of the French Cinematheque.
- What led the Cinematheque to offer this comprehensive Hitchcock?
The first reason is the publication of the biography by Patrick McGilligan Alfred Hitchcock: a life of shadows and light that accompanied the retrospective proposed by the Institut Lumière in Lyon , co-editor of this biography. The second reason is the desire to see his films on the big screen, with good copies to ensure that renews the experience of seeing films in the Hitchcock Room is a truly unique experience and success of the retrospective demonstrates. I am convinced that those who go to see or review the films of Hitchcock on DVD already but they know it's an experience that can not be replaced. Finally, the filmography of Hitchcock is one of those works that still speak to us. We must come back regularly because it is an essential not only in the history of cinema but in the history of the Twentieth Century.
- Why, more than thirty years after his death, Hitchcock is it so alive?
Because his film talks about important things, rooted in individuals. It is a film that never dated, who works on archetypes, moral issues, metaphysical issues, voyeurism, the transfer of guilt. Hitchcock is also important because it has bequeathed a method of manipulating the viewer, to work his insconcient, develop home stimuli. He has somehow left something of modern cinema that continues to have effect.
North by Northwest (1959)
- How did you manage to get copies of his 53 feature films and that films made for television?
Hitchcock is not the least filmmaker released, many of his films are distributed in France. A number of them considered classics, they were the subject of particular attention for conservation, this is not the work most difficult to collect.
- But still you post the full!
That's how it works, is what distinguishes the art rooms Cinematheque and testing or commercial use, the ability to show the whole of a work whose rare films.
Sabotage (1936) English period
- Y there particular films that deserve to be rediscovered, including the period English?
The English period has long been somewhat underestimated compared to the American period that is still, in my opinion, the most interesting. But there are some very beautiful in the English period and in silent films. What he should really evaluate what are his films for television which we realize today that they are fully part of Hitchcock's filmography. His television work has not been considered for its value.
- What this medium he upset or influenced his movies?
Much is said that television has influenced his movies because Psycho is a film that was shot with the team in the series Alfred Hitchcock This and has a small budget . What struck the audience at the time of the film was the contrast between aesthetics television (black and white actors little known except by Janet Leigh) and a way of violence unthinkable on television. This media interested in Hitchcock as it allowed him to go into people's privacy. It will therefore filming intimate scenes in numerous television episodes. And walkways will be between these films and those made for cinema. The case of Mr Pelham , the story of a guy who has a double announce later North by Northwest or The Crystal Trench which is a kind of Vertigo upside, very metaphorical.
Psycho (1960)
- Would you call it, tried reductively, " master of suspense" rather than where , that we owe to Rohmer and Chabrol, of "the greatest inventor of forms of the Twentieth Century" ?
The two are linked. To create a situation of suspense, we must invent a way to do it. We invent ways to manipulate the viewer, triggering in him a number of emotions and destabilize it. This is done by working on the image, editing, directing actors.
- What is the cycle "After Hitchcock" proposed as a result of this retrospective ?
Hitchcock bequeathed the film industry a method to provoke emotions among the public. Much of Hollywood thrillers and horror films have assimilated these methods. The purpose of this program is to show films that have consciously worked as a Hitchcockian offering a rereading of his movies. There will be films by Brian De Palma, who was filming proofreading Mannerist Hitchcock film, doing variations on Rear Window, Psycho or Vertigo. There will also be films from the Italian Series B, which are remakes of Hitchcock claimed in a serious but parody.
Obsession of Brian de Palma (1976), review of Vertigo
- few words about the wealth of programming 2010-2011 (Lynch, Lubitsch, Eisenstein, Melville ...)?
The retrospective Lubitsch was a project that had been long with the Locarno festival, we realized it was the right time to do it and it was a huge success. We took advantage of the presence of David Lynch in Europe because it is considered one of the most important American filmmakers. As for Eisenstein, he was offered the opportunity of the year France and Russia but we show it regularly. This is another great creator of forms, the tiller of the human unconscious with Hitchcock himself was heavily influenced by theories of the assembly of the Russian school.
- Can you tell us about the upcoming event Kubrick?
The event is that the Cinematheque is hosting the exhibition Stanley Kubrick who has already traveled to several Cities: Berlin, Zurich, Ghent, Rome and Melbourne. It devotes two floors of this exhibition will allow us to travel through the films of Kubrick. On this occasion, they remonstrate in any new copy. And thereafter we will feature programming about movies influenced by Kubrick. It was asked this question: is there a cinema kubrickien? It has declined a number of reasons and peculiarities of his work to see how they were in contemporary films. David Fincher , Gaspar Noe or Ridley Scott are filmmakers who can not avoid being influenced by Kubrick.
Alfred Hitchcock Retrospective until 28 February at the French Cinematheque
until April 3 at the Institut Lumière in Lyon.
until April 3 at the Institut Lumière in Lyon.
Cycle "After Hitchcock" 2 March 14.
Stanley Kubrick Exhibition from March 23 to July 31.
Information: 01.71.19.33.33. or www.cinematheque.fr
